What the Heck am I reading now?

Just put yourself with 27 other men into minus 25 degree weather with plans to walk across

Antarctica. Then, you unfortunately get your expedition vessel crushed to pulp by Antarctic ice. So you are forced to camp on the frozen Weddell sea during six months of Antarctic winter. After that, you drag your three lifeboats over the ice, and row desperately to the nearest, completely abandoned island. While there you camp out in a cave and eat nothing but penguin. After several more months, you decide to go get help, and you sail one of your lifeboats to a whaling station on a tiny island in the middle of the open sea, 800 miles away. When you get there, you trek across a mountain range with no climbing equipment, because, of course you landed on the wrong side of the island after almost being destroyed in a violent storm.

And you succeed. And your entire crew survives and is rescued.

A heavy dose of perspective gets served up when you read this first-hand account of courage, survival and leadership. I never get tired of this.

Autumn Reading #2 - The Copywriter's Handbook

This is one of the most recommended books for those who want to learn how to write advertising copy.

As it turns out, I'm discovering that I really enjoy writing. Duh, I'm a blogger, so that's no surprise to the 5 people who read this blog. However, I've never thought that it was possible to make money writing, but Bly has got me thinking otherwise.

He's got me analyzing advertising copy that I see everywhere, and it's surprising to see that a lot of writing for advertising is NOT done by a professional copywriter. You can tell pretty quick, because the ad is boring, it doesn't get you thinking, it arouses no curiosity about the product, and it doesn't clearly convince you about how you may benefit from the product. The fact remains that companies will pay for the skill of having good advertisements written.

Summer Reading 2010 - Shogun, James Clavell

A powerful and enthralling story. It really helps you understand some of the depth and richness of Japanese culture and history. After reading this book I went and rented the movie, which I think did the book justice. The Samurai warrior is not made up. Just to realize that there was actually honour in dying well and in a way that didn't bring shame upon yourself was worth the read.

Summer Reading 2010 - Whirlwind, James Clavell

When my dad gave this to me to read, I hesitated at first because of the sheer size of the book, over a thousand pages in small type. But his excitement won me over, and I picked it up back in March. I finally finished it two months later, and have been please to discover how impressive James Clavell is (was) as a story teller. He takes time and care to build a vast cast of characters, and combines their personalities into an action filled story that is plausible, historically and culturally accurate, and thoroughly entertaining.

The story is set during the Iranian Revolution of the late 1970's, and tells the imaginary story of how a British helicopter company extricated itself, its equipment and all of its expatriate staff from Iran as the country was seized by radical Islam. The story paints a believable picture of how brutal legalism, tribalism, family loyalties, hypocrisy, various cultural beliefs, traditions and ultimately, love, courage and devotion, are all forces that can shape, inspire and also destroy people's lives

Quebec City 2010 - Sunday

Our trip home day.

Bombardier Dash 7 twin prop from Quebec City to Montreal.

Beoing 737 from Montreal to Toronto.
The real story is that thunderstorms hit in Toronto and they had to shut down the airport for about an hour for safety. So, our flight was delayed on arriving to Montreal by about an hour. Then, upon arrival in Toronto, we sat for about an hour waiting for a spot at the terminal to disembark. So, a 1 hour flight became 3. We finally got to the car at about 8 pm, rather than 5 as planned. Next surprise - we parked at the wrong lot according to our discount ticket, and we were supposed to pay $104 for parking, rather than the $35 we had thought. I basically threw myself on the mercy of the cashier, "How about we split the difference and I pay $75?" "No sir, I'm sorry, this is not the price the Economy lot is farther down the road." I replied, with disgust, "It's a lousy way to end a family holiday." To save face he did not admit out loud that he would help us, but in fact he only charged us $75. "Thank-you," I said with relief. And off we went to look for some supper.

Do you think we could find a fast food place anywhere near the airport, such as McD's? Nope. Just Subway. We kept on going towards Malton. Surely there is a fast food restaurant along here somewhere, I thought. Sure enough, we see a Wendy's. I try to stop in time for the driveway, but missed the first lane and sailed past the little divider island. I would normally have no problem entering a driveway going the wrong way, because it's not an issue. But, wouldn't you know, there's a car just pulling into the lane as we veer off Dixon Road, braking hard. She brakes, I brake. We sit hood to hood looking at each other. I would have to back up into traffic on Dixon Road. She would have to back up into an empty parking lot. It's obvious who should move, I'm thinking. She just sits and honks, and looks disgusted. Then, we look around and we notice there are - no lie - about 50 people sitting around the Wendy's parking lot and on the boulevard, as if there was some kind of corporate barbecue or biker picnic going on. This is really spooky, I'm thinking. What have we barged into? All of these people are staring at us in our obvious goof-up! I sit there, refusing to try to back out into traffic on a four lane airport artery. I gesture for her to back up. After a few tense seconds, she finally got the idea to back up a few feet and I whipped past her into the parking lot.

What about all those people? Totally freaked by all the people sitting around, the bride was saying we should just forget it now and go home. I continue into the parking lot. "It's okay, there's no problem. We're here; let's eat!" So we park the car and look around, still trying to figure out what the heck is the big event that has got all these people sitting around aimlessly. Is there some parade about to go by? Then it hits me. I look across the street and see the end of the main airport runway. This parking lot is the last public place before planes hit the runway. These people are plane-spotting! My kind of people! I'm in! I refuse to go into the restaurant until I see the next bird buzz a hundred feet overhead.

What a thrill! If there were a downburst and a plane lost it just before touchdown, this restaurant and the entire property would be obliterated in the impact.
Here is the location of the Wendy's. You can see the runway.

Here's a picture someone took at the same spot. You can get the idea.
Well, we wouldn't have ended up doing the plane-spotting if the plane had been on time. It just goes to show that the unscripted, unplanned parts of the trip are usually the most interesting.
We had a great time in Quebec. There is no such thing as a snobby francophone. If any of our hosts were holding grudges about having to speak English, they kept it private and they always tried to use English when they found out we were from Ontario. They could usually tell within hearing one or two words that we were English.

Quebec City 2010 - Saturday

Lara Fabian in concert. What a great band and a great singer! Immense turnout, covering several acres of land. Of course, not a word was spoken in English, as the organizers of the music festival had been under much pressure to back off on the English content. The son and I watched the first 2/3 of it, then we were getting a bit bored since the tunes all had a similar groove, and we were helpless up against the french lyrics, albeit the songs sounded really, really good, but the nuances and enjoyment of the lyrics were lost on us. However, having now seen her twice, the first time being at the Junos several years ago at Copps, I have a real respect for the immensity of her talent. Definitely an international francophone chanteuse/goddess!

Quebec City 2010 - Friday

Bang! en Spectacle

You never know what you're going to see at the Festival D'ete de Quebec. The bride, daughter 2 and I were out on Rue St. Jean this evening in the old city, walking around and enjoying things, when this rag-tag, green lab coat wearing marching band comes down the street moving to a funky Cuban beat. We take a second look and realize that they are playing plastic bins and metal cooking pots and pans. The leader has a little saucepan and is playing it off of streetposts, fenceposts, etc. They are wearing helmets with bells attached. And they are GROOVIN' like there's no tomorrow.

They put on a show that kept me transfixed for 20 minutes.

The son and daughter 1 got to the Iron Maiden event no problem. The light rain didn't dampen the spirits of any of the 100 thousand people who attended. They flooded out of the Plains of Abraham Park in all directions at about 11:30, you could see them pouring past our hotel. Speaking of flooding - Earlier that day thunderstorms had been dumping 30-40 mm of rain in various places around the province. Quebec City got off easy, although the power went out for about 2 hours in our hotel.

The first part of this day was spent being lazy around the hotel, swimming at the pool and watching TV. We are becoming acquainted with the Discovery Channel and have been watching How It Is Made. We've also enjoyed the programs Destroyed in Seconds and Man vs. Wild.

At lunch we made special plans to eat at Le Parliamentaire, the nice restaurant at the Provincial Legislature Building across the street. We took a short tour of the building and then had a really nice meal. A great opportunity for all of us to practice some table manners for a change!

Quebec City 2010 - Thursday

Rafting Trip Day!

The trip to Expeditions Nouvelle Vague took about an hour. It is in the Laurentians to the north of the city on the Jacques Cartier River.

Compared to our Kananaskis rafting trip, we thought this one was better. There was a lot more action, a longer trip, more rapids, body surfing, a small waterfall and a 25 foot optional cliff jump. Considering that the water was low this season, we did just fine, although we were getting stuck on lots of rocks in one section that is notorious for just that. Our guide, Christian, did his best to direct us in English, and this extra stress was on top of the fact that he was being tested for his rafting guide license and his examiner was riding our raft with us!

We practiced swatting enormous HORSE FLIES which attacked us at various point along the trip. Then, later during dinner we were harassed by lots of other flies who were liking the idea of sharing our steaks.

The day was topped off with a deliciously barbecued steak. The day was still very hot, and the bride was showing signs of exhaustion near the end of the raft trip. A bottle of Gatorade and the steak pulled her back together pretty quickly.

By the time we all got back to the hotel, we were whipped. Later that evening the bride, daughter 1 and I went out to see the first night of the music festival, Festival D'ete de Quebec. Tons of people! We picked up two passes for $108, which will get you into any of the big venues for the entire two week festival. The plan was that daughter 1 and the son will go see Iron Maiden tomorrow night.

Quebec City 2010 - Wednesday

I was awake at the usual early hour, and got myself out to find some breakfast. Two blocks away is the Grand Allee - a beautiful, modern street with wide cobblestone sidewalks and outdoor cafes all down both sides. Tons of choices for food and shopping. I found a nice restaurant for some dejeunner and a newspaper.

Quebec City 2010 - Tuesday

Some tense moments at the airport as we managed to arrive at our departure gate with only minutes to spare. The son forgot that he had a pocket knife in his things and ended up getting it confiscated. We arrived in Quebec around 11 am, the weather being ridiculously hot, and continuing the heat wave that had wrapped up southern Ontario for the previous 3 days. We were glad to climb into our Altima, only to find that the push-button starter needed a look in the owner's manual to learn how to work it!

Found our way to our hotel in Upper Town beside Parliament Hill, the Delta. The entire front driveway was fenced off and there was NOWHERE to park to unload our bags. I moved down to a spot near the taxi stand to get us unloaded. Weird hotel setup: the check-in desk in on the THIRD FLOOR, so you have to take a separate elevator trip to get there. Escalators were being repaired, so we got in the habit of walking up or down those two flights.

Checked into our room - pretty nice. We had been under the impression that we had reserved 2 rooms, but NOT TRUE, so all 5 of us got set up with an extra cot for the son. We enjoyed a nice meal in the hotel Bistro, then walked around to find the pool.

After a nap, I headed out with the son, daughter 2 and the cell phone to go for a walk into the Old Town behind the wall. In a few minutes we ended up at the Chateau Frontenac Terrace overlooking the St. Lawrence. I love this place. A few minutes later we were joined by the bride and daughter 1. We spent the next couple of hours wandering and exploring, trying to avoid overheating ourselves, dipping into numerous shops, especially the air-conditioned ones! About 400 steps take you to the Lower City, where the vast array of shops and cafes continues. You could spend an entire summer just wandering from one cafe to another, sipping beer or tea, and enjoying people-watching.

We Won the Weather Lottery!